I can't imagine *not* going to Columbia. Well, actually, I can imagine it. That's the problem.
I'll be the man going to a mediocre institution like PG Community College or Brown and then, four years later, standing on a subway station and holding up a sign saying, " Writer, homeless, Out of Work, in college debt. Will rhyme for food."
Columbia is cool, because, well, it's Columbia. It's part of a sports club of some renown and rhymes with Disturbia. It has one of the most interesting student populations on the planet and an u in the name, useful in case I apply to the Universidad Nacional de Colombia by accident. It has the Core Curriculum and Local Strawberry Jam. It graduated 101 Pulitzer Prize winners and the first half-black president and cut down its homicide rate by half, has wonderful rainforests and is located in the picturesque Andes-I might be looking at the wrong Wikipedia page here.
I understand that no college could really "teach" successful writing. But Columbia's Creative Writing program, with its Core Curriculum, intense workshops, small writing seminars and exposure to the vibrant community that is NYC(sure, I may not get the New Yorker internship that I've always wanted, but I'll probably get something just as good), comes pretty darn close.
I'm also applying to Columbia is because it's one of the very few colleges that gives need-based aid to foreigners. Because financial hardship should never impede the pursuit of excellence.
I'll be the man going to a mediocre institution like PG Community College or Brown and then, four years later, standing on a subway station and holding up a sign saying, " Writer, homeless, Out of Work, in college debt. Will rhyme for food."
Columbia is cool, because, well, it's Columbia. It's part of a sports club of some renown and rhymes with Disturbia. It has one of the most interesting student populations on the planet and an u in the name, useful in case I apply to the Universidad Nacional de Colombia by accident. It has the Core Curriculum and Local Strawberry Jam. It graduated 101 Pulitzer Prize winners and the first half-black president and cut down its homicide rate by half, has wonderful rainforests and is located in the picturesque Andes-I might be looking at the wrong Wikipedia page here.
I understand that no college could really "teach" successful writing. But Columbia's Creative Writing program, with its Core Curriculum, intense workshops, small writing seminars and exposure to the vibrant community that is NYC(sure, I may not get the New Yorker internship that I've always wanted, but I'll probably get something just as good), comes pretty darn close.
I'm also applying to Columbia is because it's one of the very few colleges that gives need-based aid to foreigners. Because financial hardship should never impede the pursuit of excellence.